Introduction: BT have used this technique with Network Rail and it is now in production and has proved very useful for the location of trains by triangulation from the sound source, Improving the safety at farm railway crossings (determining when next train will be) and fault diagnosis of trains whilst running on the track (diction of square wheels by analysing the sound footprint) and detection of copper thefts. It is believed this system can be tailored to suite a number of applications some of which may only transpire during the project.

Objectives: To implement a pilot trial and asses the benefits and limitations of optic fibre sensing in a Substation Environment for asset management and operational needs.

This project will deliver a fibre optic cable at Bolnely 400kV substation which will be routed around part of the perimeter fence and in the near vicinity of at least one 400/132kV SGT, a 13kV tertiary reactor, a 400kV air blast circuit breaker and other switchgear.

This fibre will be lit using a sensor which has been developed by BT which uses the fibre to detect audible sounds. The data from this will be sent across an internet connection back to a BT server to analyse the noise signatures on site.